The new generation of hostels is building without barriers

March 09, 2018

Bayreuth, Germany – The design team at LAVA – Laboratory for Visionary Architecture – got rid of every barrier when realizing the Bayreuth Youth Hostel in their attempt to lay the foundations for the sports hostel of the future.

LAVA’s concept for the hostel is innovative, integrative and international. This translates to a new spatial configuration of the whole facility towards an inclusive barrier-free building with sporting areas merging with the interior. The rooms, grounds and sports fields of the hostel are fully accessible and specially equipped for active people with disabilities: both guests and employees.

Expansive views and multiple accessible openings to the sports fields and gardens through the Y shape of the hostel give life to a connective central area, encouraging community interaction through geometry.

The hostel room typology is also new: flexible room walls in combination with modular built-in furniture facilitate different room configurations. Furthermore, partially rotatable beds ensure accessibility and comfort for wheelchair users and visitors with special requirements. The designers strive to provide guests with the same positive experience of the hostel’s hospitality and equal opportunities for social connection, while caring for the environment by respecting it in creating buildings that perfectly fit with the landscape. LAVA designs are based on sustainable principles which include local materials, insulated facades, renewable energy, pollution reduction and social and structural sustainability.